Navy, Coast Guard intercept boat with 180 tons of Iranian explosive materials headed to Yemen

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard intercepted and seized a 180-ton Iranian shipment of explosive materials headed to Yemen, where Iran backs the Houthi rebels.

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard intercepted an enormous Iranian shipment of explosive materials headed to Yemen last week, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command.

The stateless fishing boat was carrying more than 180 tons of urea fertilizer and ammonium perchlorate when the Coast Guard ship USCGC John Scheuerman and Navy guided missile destroyer USS The Sullivans came across the dhow in international waters of the Gulf of Oman on Nov. 8.

For the next five days explosive ordnance disposal technicians from the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 56 and crew from the USS Hurricane searched the boat and identified the substances as urea fertilizer and ammonium perchlorate, which can both be used in explosives.

After U.S. military explosives experts examined the boat and off-loaded the explosive material and Yemeni crew members, the U.S. military deemed the boat a hazard to commercial ship navigation and sank it in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday. The USS The Sullivans transferred the four Yemeni crew to the Yemeni Coast Guard in the Gulf of Aden so they could be handed over to Yemeni civil authorities.

The U.S. seized a ship with 180 tons of Iranian explosive material and spent days unloading the vessel before sinking it.U.S. NavyThis is the first time U.S. forces assigned to the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain have intercepted ammonium perchlorate, but they seized another large shipment of urea fertilizer earlier this year when the USS Cole and USS Chinook seized a fishing boat in the Gulf of Oman with 40 tons of urea fertilizer coming from the coast of Somalia. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/navy-coast-guard-seize-180-tons-iran-explosives-yemen-rcna57169

---